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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2026
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries
Trump Administration Delivers Second Year of Savings by Stopping Taxpayer Payments for Duplicate and Deceased Enrollees in Obamacare
After Years of Biden-era Inaction, CMS Reviews Projected to Save Taxpayers $1.5 Billion Over the Next Year
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continue to crush fraud, waste, and abuse in America’s healthcare programs by stopping duplicative enrollment in government health programs, with the potential to save taxpayers approximately $1.5 billion over the next year.
In 2026, CMS identified 189,000 people who had subsidized Obamacare coverage through the Federal Marketplace and either had duplicate Medicare, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage or were deceased. CMS took swift action to remove Obamacare subsidies for these people to save taxpayer dollars.
“Americans overwhelmingly support protecting access to healthcare for vulnerable Americans, but taxpayers shouldn’t pay twice for the same coverage,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “By cracking down on duplicate enrollments in Medicare or Medicaid and government-subsidized Affordable Care Act plans, HHS is safeguarding taxpayer dollars, so that every penny goes toward providing quality care for the vulnerable Americans who need it.”
“When it comes to program integrity, the Biden Administration was sleeping on the job,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “They paused looking for duplicate Medicaid and Obamacare coverage for four years, creating a backlog of hundreds of thousands of duplicate enrollments. We’ve already saved nearly $6 billion, and we will continue to work hard to restore taxpayers’ confidence that the programs they fund are spending their hard-earned dollars wisely and efficiently.”
The Trump Administration restored duplicate enrollment enforcement in 2025, ending duplicate Obamacare subsidies for approximately 551,000 enrollees already receiving coverage under Medicaid.
Historically, CMS routinely checked to ensure taxpayers were not subsidizing duplicate Obamacare policies on the Federal Marketplace for beneficiaries already on Medicaid or Medicare. It also checked if taxpayers are paying for Obamacare plans on the Federal Marketplace for deceased people.
Federal regulations require Exchanges to periodically examine data for dual enrollments in Medicaid to guard against improper enrollments in subsidized Exchange plans through a process called Medicaid/CHIP Periodic Data Matching (PDM). These essential examinations were strengthened under the first Trump Administration and increased to at least twice a year. However, these checks were paused for Medicaid/CHIP enrollees the duration of the Biden Administration, allowing hundreds of thousands of individuals to be enrolled in multiple federal health insurance programs at once.
Individuals whose records show they receive Obamacare subsidies while also being covered by Medicaid or Medicare are contacted and provided 30 days to dispute that they have duplicate coverage. If such individuals fail to do so, CMS ends subsidies for their Obamacare plan. Even after 30 days, individuals may appeal the determination of duplicate coverage or show that their Medicaid/CHIP coverage is about to lapse and regain Obamacare subsidies.
This process also contacts individuals, or their estate, when federal records say they are deceased. CMS provides 30 days to dispute this record, otherwise their Obamacare subsidy and plan is ended.
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